RYU-JIN – fgi back racing – gales on the menu!

by Di Pearson on 8 Apr 2007 Just when life was settling down to a pleasant pattern in the Melbourne Osaka double handed yacht race, meteorologist Roger Badham has told the fleet that a small area of gales may develop on Sunday and through to Tuesday, and although it is not 100% guaranteed, Badham says competitors should be prepared.

The good news is that Murray Bucknall and Jon Sayer have RYU-JIN –fgi back in the race following rudder repairs in Bundaberg and are now playing catch-up. Due to light conditions the frontrunners experienced yesterday, don’t be surprised to see this crew up amongst it in the next day or two.

Leading the race prior to their mishap, the two left the dock early yesterday morning, at the time of writing yesterday’s latest news.

Di Sayer, wife of the yacht’s designer/builder says: 'Jon spent the last few days (and nights) re-building the rudder.

'He is still not entirely sure what happened, however he did say they were flying and doing sustained speeds around 18-20 knots when a portion of the bottom section of the rudder broke off.

'After the pandemonium had subsided, and they were able to settle the boat, they saw that the boat was covered in squid ink. Possibly RYU-JIN sailed through a ‘school’ of squid and collected one on the way - we will never know for sure.'

Two weeks into the race come 1.00pm today, COCORIN interland’s race lead has diminished to 61 nautical miles early this morning, with fellow Japanese entry Tamagomalu giving chase. If the weather pans out as expected, COCORIN’s crew will have a number of boats closing in on her.

Positioned to the west of Mbava Island in the Solomon Islands this morning, skipper Itaru Matsunaga reported from COCORIN interland on yesterday afternoons events: 'The winds dropped again. It’s worse; as it is a light headwind, so it is hard to the angle right.

'It is hard, but we are in good spirits. This morning we tried to hoist the new ‘turbo sail’ and found it huge and powerful. Then the wind came on the nose (NNE 2-3 knots), so we dropped the turbo. Being so large, it was enormously hard work.

'We are sweating quite a lot, as the weather is nice and hot. Boat speed is 3.5 knots, with full genoa, full mail and full mizzen on a flat sea.'

Brian Pattinson reported from Gusto, prior to docking in Honiara to repair a broken gooseneck this morning: 'All OK on Gusto. Beautiful days, calm nights and flat seas - which isn’t all that bad, if we weren’t racing!

'Ended getting the full main up yesterday. Went well, then the wind died again. Flogged the main, so had to reduce sail, so now back to cruising

'Should be in Honiara early morning tomorrow (today, Sunday). Hope our contact will work over Easter.'

Third and fourth placed on line, Dekadence and Hullabaloo remain so close, the two are cross tacking and gybing, with Jim and Joe O’Keeffe inviting the Dekadence crew aboard for some brunch, including pumpkin scones.

Phil Coombs’ says: 'Unfortunately we couldn't go, because the entry fee was a bottle of Jack Daniels. Being elite athletes (ha, ha) we don't abide that kind of behaviour!'

A mere 34nm behind the two, a tongue-in-cheek report came from Shinsuke Nishi on Asadori last evening: 'Our rice is damaged! A lot of our menu goes with rice, which is traditional Japanese menu at home, so now we do not know what to do without enough rice!

'Our race is better news. We are sailing smoothly around 13S at 7 - 8 knots sneaking up the forerunners.'

And 32nm behind, Ingenue is sneaking up on Asadori, which is in turn being chased by Alex, 28nm astern. A gap of 174nm to the next boat, Wild Boar with a further 202nm to Esoterica, 122nm to RYU-JIN, with Southern Light 187nm in last place, situated north of Fraser Island in Northern Queensland.

All yachts are sailing a similar course and will be interesting to see what changes have occurred by tomorrow morning’s sked.

Onboard Wild Boar’, Shozi Yoneda and Jun Kanda tell: 'Yesterday the sea was not choppy and we enjoyed a spinnaker run for two hours. When we dropped the spinnaker, it took almost one1 hour to take it in! Not much progress.'

This morning, positioned around 18 degrees South, where the gale warning was issued, Kanda was at the helm in heavy rain and wind due to a squall.

Dr Rosie Colahan sent this update from Ingenue:

'We have had a bit of an IT glitch with the Toshiba, so back to the trusty ThinkPad which doesn't seem to mind the motion as much.

'Friday was a steamy overcast day with drizzly intermittent rain but not enough to get the washing done. The port Q-berth, which resembled a teenagers' bedroom since our departure was cleared of assorted clothing to reclaim sleeping space under the 12 volt fan for the warmer weather. The saloon berth is very cosy in Bass Strait but rather airless in the tropics.

'Our comfort below is further enhanced with hatch blinds and dark curtains, which are very effective in cutting down on the heat, and airflow is aided by hatch scoops.

'After a pleasant balmy starlit night, Saturday dawned warm and sunny. David organised breakfast of muesli, banana and fresh yoghurt (which we make aboard) followed by freshly baked bread and the last of our avocados.

'The bimini has been rolled out in the cockpit and we lunched under its shade on Hoisin duck with fresh asparagus, snow peas and udon noodles, washed down with a glass of red. Ocean racing in the tropics is really tough and a far cry from the conditions in Bass Strait ten days ago.

'As the day progressed, monsoonal cumulus clouds appeared and late this afternoon, we had our first decent rainsquall, allowing for luxurious showering and hair washing.

'Good news that RYU-JIN has recommenced racing. Other boats which stopped for repairs are also back on track and heading north again. We are sorry that Pippin and Runaway have been unable to continue due to their problems.

'We have now travelled over 2,000 nm in 13 days and have theoretically completed one-third of our journey. We still have the windless doldrums to traverse and then into the North Pacific where hopefully we will pick up the NE trades fairly quickly.

'Time to start getting our heads around the weather pressure systems that go in the opposite direction in the northern hemisphere to those we are used to Downunder. Always a new challenge!'

Weather:

GALES.
A small area of gales may develop on the south side of a low situated near 12S 154E on Sunday 8 to Tuesday 10. The low is expected to move SW towards the far north QLD coast. (Not all computer models show this area of gales, so it is not 100% guaranteed that the area of gale will be that strong or move that far to the SW by Tuesday.)

SUN 08
SE-S winds of 30-35 kts between 12S and 16S and 151E and 154E – the area moving to the SW.

MON 09
SE-S winds of 30-35 kts between 13S and 18S and 148E and 153E

TUE 10
SE winds of 30-35 kts between 15S and 20S and 147E and 153E


Argos tracker positions at UTC 22.00.00 (8am AEST & 7am JPN Sunday April 8):
COCORIN interland (Itaru Matsunaga/John Bankart), Tamagomalu (Makoto Hisamatsu/Jimmi Doherty), Dekadence (Phil Coombs/Peter Walsh), Hullabaloo (Jim and son Joe O’Keeffe), Asadori (Shinsuke Nishi/Kyojun Fujita), Ingenue (David James and wife Rosie Colahan), Alex (Jock and son Hamish MacAdie), Wild Boar (Shozi Yuneda/Jun Kanda), Esoterica (Campbell Reynolds/David Best), RYU-JIN (Murray Bucknall/Jon Sayer), Southern Light (Tom Crabb/Trent Justice), Gusto (Patrick Giudice/Brian Pattinson – in Honiara to repair gooseneck), Cadi (John and son David Netherton, retired), Wasabi (Ken Down/Shane Gaddes – retired), Runaway (James Ryssenbeek/Andrew McCole – retired), Pippin (Roger Sayers/Anthony Bown – retired).